Historical sketch of Northborough

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HISTORICAL SKETCH OF NORTIIBOROUGH.

BY REV. JOSEPH ALLEN, D. D.

NORTIIBOROUGH 13 the youiigcst of the four Borough towns, not
having been incorporated till 1766; although it became a precinct,
known as the Second Precinct in Westborough, twenty-two years
before ; viz., October 20, 1744, O. S., answering to October 31, N. S.
It did not acquire the rank or enjoy the full immunities of a town till
the commencement of the Revolutionary Avar, when, by a general act
of the Provincial Congress, all incorporated districts were declared to
be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of towns.

From 1717, when Westborough, then including the principal part
of Northborough, was incorporated, till 1744, the inhabitants of the
whole district formed one corporate body, who met together at the
same place, for the transaction of public business and for public wor-
ship, and made appropriations from the common treasury for the
support of the minister, for the purposes of education, for the repair
of the highways, &c., and, with the exception of public worship, this
united action continued till 1766.

Northborough contains, within its present limits, 10,150 acres —
a little less than sixteen square miles. It is of irregular shape ; its
greatest length being from the north-east to the south-west. It lies
principally in a valley, between the high lands of Marlborough on the
east, of Berlin on the north, and of Shrewsbury and Boylston on the
west. This interval spreads out to the south, and extends to the hills
of Hopkinton and Upton, including a large part of Westborough.

The river Assabet, which has its sources in the hills of Grafton
and Shrewsbury, runs through the town, forming part of the bound-
ary line on the south-east, between Westborough and Northborough.
It receives several tributaries in its course, and furnishes water-power
for two cotton-mills and several saw and grist-mills and comb shops.
Its general course is north and north-east, leading to Feltonville and
Assabet, and thence to Concord, forming the north branch of Con-
cord river, which falls into the Merrimac at Lowell. Its Indian name

has been retained, which has also been given to a beautiful hill near
the village, formerly called Liquor Hill. The principal streams that
fall into the Assabet in its course through the town are : 1. Hop
Brook, which, rising in Shrewsbury, crosses the south-west angle of
the town, furnishing water-power for a saw-mill and grist-mill, and
fiills into the Assabet soon after that river enters the toAvn. A small
stream, called Bummit Brook, which carries the saw-mill of Jonathan
Bartlett, falls into Hop Brook. 2. Stirrup Brook, the outlet of C4reat
and Little Chauucy Ponds ; the former in Westborough, in the vicinity
of the State Reform School; the latter lying wholly in Northborough.
This stream furnishes water-po\ter for Bai'tlctt's saw, shingle, and
grist-mills, and falls into the Assabet in the north-easterly part of the
town.* 3. Cold ILarbor Brook, which, rising in Shrewsbury, and
receiving a tributary stream from Rocky Pond in Boylston, furnishes
water-power for two grist-mills and a saAv-raill ; then running through
Cold Harbor meadow, and crossing the road between the village and
the Old Congregational Church, forming other mill-sites, falls into the
river Assabet, a hundred rods below the bridge. 4. Howard Brook,
which, having its sources in the north-Avesterly part of the town,
crosses the Clinton road a little to the north of the New Cemetery,
furnishing water-power for a saAV-mill and two or three comb-shops
before it falls into the Assabet.

The surface, though more even than that of most of the towns in
Worcester County, is diversified by hills and valleys, by rocks and
plains, by SAvamps and meadoAvs. The soil is generally fertile, most
of the cleared land producing fine crops of hay and grain, with excel-
lent pasturage, especially on the hills. In the northern part of the
town the land is very uneven, being composed of ledges of rock, prin-
cipally gneiss, lying in strata, having in some places a dip of 70^ or
80°. This is the principal rock of this part of the State, though the
strata differ widely in different localities, being less regular and less
easily worked in this region than in the towns farther south. There
is a vein of hornblende running through the town from north-east to
south-west, crossing the road that leads to Westborough, and forming
a hard ledge about a mile south of the Railroad station, and extend-
ing through Cedar S^vamp to Tomlin Hill, so called.

In the Avesterly part of the town, the rocks are of a slaty structure,
and seem to contain a good deal of iron ore, as the rock easily decom-
poses when exposed to the air, having the appearance of iron-rust.

* George C. Davis, Esq., informs me that from old records which he has seen, it
appears that the stream that forms the outlet of Chauncy Pond, was called '♦ Honey
Brook," probably from the swarms of wild bees found in that vicinity. Stirrup Brook,
60 called from a hill of that name in Marlborough, falls into Honey Brook below
Bartlett Mills, and gives its name to the main stream.

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Clay of ii superior quality is found in several localities, from which
large quantities of brick have been made, many of which were used
in building the Cochituate aqueduct. Limestone is also found in a
few places, but it has never been worked to any considerable extent.

The principal hills are IMount Assabet, overlooking the village,
clothed on the eastern declivity by a fine grove of oaks — the other
sides, with the summit, being cleared and cultivated ; Ball Hill, at
the north-west exti'emity, containing about 1,000 acres of excellent
land for grazing or tillage ; Edmund Hill north of the village, Cedar
Hill to the south-east, and Tomlin Hill to the south-west. Besides
these, there are other beautiful elevations giving a pleasing variety to
the landscape, some of which are cleared and converted into pastures,
and others remain covered with a fine growth of forest trees.

Besides artificial ponds formed by dams, there are only two natural
collections of water worthy of mention. The larger of these is Little
Chauucy Pond, near the State Reform School, and Solomon's Pond,
in the north-easterly part of the town, so called in commemoration of
an Indian of that name who was drowned therein.

The Village, so called by way of distinction, consists principally of
buildings standing on half a mile of the main street, (which runs
east and west, being a part of the old stage route from Boston to
Worcester,) with such other buildings as ai'e in close proximity to the
Main street. Besides a goodly number of dwelling-houses, the vil-
lage contains three handsome church edifices, two hotels, four English
goods stores, a large shoe manufactory, a two-story brick school-
house, the bank, the post-office, the rail-road depot, the engine-house,
and the town-house.

The other principal roads are the one leading to Westborough, one
to Feltonville, one to Boylston, and two, one east and the other west
of the old Congregational church, leading to Berlin, Clinton and
Lancaster.

Farming, in its various branches, furnishes employment to a large
portion of the inhabitants, though many young men are engaged in
the manufacture of combs and in the shoe business. The tAvo cotton-
mills on the Assabet ha.ve furnished c'-^ployment to about fifty hands,
and run two thousand spindles. Or these was destroyed by fire,

December 3, 18G0, but will probably ^ebuilt. This was the old

cotton factory, erected by a company in the i-me of the last war with
Great Britain, 1814, at a cost of S30,000. The other, which is of
brick, was built in 1832-3, by the brothers Phincas, Joseph, and Isaac
Davis, Esqs., at a cost of $30,300, (including four houses and land.)
It remained in the possession of members of that family till the death
of the last survivor, Isaac Davis, Esq., in 1859. Both foctories are
now in the possession of the Messrs. Pratt, of Grafton.

The manufacture of combs was introduced into this place by Haynes
& Bush, about the year 1839, and is still carried on, to a considerable
extent, by the Brothers Wilder & Wai-ren, T. Bush, Milo Hildreth &
Brothers, and several other firms or individuals.

The tanning business, also, is prosecuted to some extent in this
town. It was commenced in the midst of the Revolutionary war,
about 1778, by Deacon Isaac Davis, father of Gov. John Davis, con-
tinued by his sons, Isaac and Joseph Davis, Esqrs., and is now owned
and cai'ried on by his grandson, George C. Davis, Esq.

The Agricultural Railroad, which at present terminates in this vil-
lage, furnishes an easy communication with the market ; and, when
completed, will form a desirable connection with the northern and
north-western routes.

Settlement, Population, 8fC.

Some time previous to the close of the seventeenth century, some
parts of the territory now included within the limits of Northborough
had been laid out for farms. The first settler, according to tradition,
was John Brigham, from Sudbury, to whom a grant of land Avas made
in 1672, on " Licor Meadow Plain," as stated in the deed, and Avhich
we may suppose covered a tract of nearly level ground, extending
north from the foot of Liquor Hill, or Mount Assabet, so as to include
the site of the saw-mill, which he soon afterwards erected, and of the
log-cabin which he built, near where the saw-mill of Wilder Bush now
stands. Other grants of land were made in the same year ; one to
Samuel Goodenow, and another to John Rediat, "on the Nepmuck
road that formerly led toward Coneticoat," both of which were proba-
bly within the bounds of this town.

At the time of the division of Westborough into two precincts, or
parishes, that is, in 1744, the north precinct contained thirty-eight
families. After the separation, measures were at once adopted by the
inhabitants of the north precinct to build a meeting-house and to settle
a minister. After much controversy respecting a location, the ques-
tion was submitted to referees, who fixed on a spot a little to the west
of that now occupied by the old meeting-house belonging to the First
parish. The land on which it stands was given to the town by Capt.
James Eager, April 26, 1745, for the use of the inhabitants, "so
long," the deed runs, " as the said inhabitants of the north precinct
shall improve said land for the standing of a meeting-house for the
public worship of God."

Before the separation, the inhabitants of the whole district, compris-
ing both towns, at first called " Chauncy," or " Chauncy Village,"
worshiped together in the old meeting-house, which stood near Wes-
son's tavern, now the Water-Cure establishment.

Nortliborougli became an incorporated District, January 24, 1766 ;
till which time its inhabitants continued to exercise their rights as
citizens of Westborough, receiving their share of the appropriations
made for the support of schools, for repairing the highways, &c.

From the date of its incorporation to the commencement of the
Revolutionary war, in 1775, when, as above-mentioned, it assumed
the rank of a town, Northborough exercised all the riglits and enjoyed
all the privileges secured to other towns, excepting the privilege of
sending a delegate or representative to the " Great and General
Court," in this case voting with Westborough. It raised money for
the maintenance of public worship, for the support of schools, for
repairs on the highways, &c., and was not backward in furnishing
men to join the several expeditions, undertaken by the Government of
England, for the conquest of Canada.

Three men joined the expedition to Halifax in 1 754 ; two were at
Crown Point in 1755 ; and in 1758, eight young men from this small
district were Avith the army under Gen. Abercrombie, at his defeat
before Ticonderoga, one of whom, Capt. Timothy Brigham, who lived
till October 5, 1828, to the advanced age of ninety-three, was second
in command under Capt. Samuel Wood of this town, (who died Sep-
tember 21, 1818, at the age of seventy-five,) of the company of Minute
Men, Avhich marched down to Cambridge on the memorable 19th of
April, 1775, and which took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, on the
17th of June following, when Capt. Wood received a slight wound on
the retreat of the American troops. The wound, though in the back,
was not regarded as a dishonorable one ; nor Avas it of so serious a
nature as to prevent the brave captain from attending public worship
the following Sunday, in his native village, with the rent in his coat
unrepaired.

The inhabitants of this precinct took an early and decided stand in
defense of their rights in the controversy with the mother country,
which preceded the breaking out of hostilities in 1775. As early as
March, 1773, at a meeting of the citizens called for the purpose of con-
sulting together on public atfairs, it was " Voted, as the opinion of this
district, that it is the indispensable duty of all men, and all bodies of
men, to unite and strenuously oppose, by all lawful ways and means,
such unjust and unrighteous encroachments, made or attempted to be
made, upon their just rights ; and that it is our duty earnestly to
endeavor to hand these rights down inviolate to our posterity, as they
were handed to us by our worthy ancestors."

The following communication appears in the Massachusetts Gazette
for February 17, 1773 : " We hear from Shrewsbury, that, one day
last week, a peddler was observed to go into a tavern there, with a bag
containing about 30 pounds of Tea. Information of which being had

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at Noi-thborough, about 5 miles distance, a Number of Indians went
from the Great Swamp, or thereabouts, seized upon it, and committed
it to the flames, in the road facing said Tavern, where it was entirely
consumed." This was the same year that the tea was thrown over-
board in Boston harbor, by a band of young men disguised as
Indians.

In 1774, the District passed the following patriotic vote : " Thatwc
are determined to defend our Charter rights and privileges, at the risk
of our lives and fortunes, and that the town desire the Committee of
Correspondence to write to their brethren in Boston and inform them
thereof." Again, June 3, 1776, a month before the Declaration of
Independence was signed at Philadelphia, it was resolved: " That it
is the mind of this town to be independent of Great Britain, in case
the Continental Congress think proper : and that we are ready, with
our lives and fortunes, if in Providence called, to defend the same."

Nor did these spirited resolutions end in idle words. At one time,
five, soon after, three, at another time, five, at another, seven, and on
one occasion, seventeen men were called for fi-om this small town, and
were marched hundreds of miles, to mingle in the scenes of war.

Nor was this all. Taking into consideration the hardships under-
gone by those who had entered into the service of their country, and
especially the losses they had sustained by being paid in a depreciated
currency, the town voted, December 28, 1780, in the midst of that
winter of unprecedented severity, to raise their quota of men, (eight in
all, to serve three years,) and to pay and clothe them at their own ex-
pense, allowing them forty shillings each a month, in hard money, in
addition to their clothes.

The number was very small of those who refused to embark in the
cause of freedom ; the names of four only being recorded as absentees,
whose estates were confiscated near the close of the war. And al-
though the people were reduced to the greatest straits, owing to the
depreciation of the currency, the want of a circulating medium, and
the embarrassments of debt, yet almost all proved loyal in the trying
times that followed. Only four of the citizens of this tOAvu Avere im-
plicated in the Shays Rebellion, as it was called, which had its head-
quarters in the western part of Worcester County, and which had its
origin in these very grievances.

More prosperous times followed the adoption of the Federal Consti-
tution, and Northborough shared with other towns in the general
prosperity.

Churches, Ministers, S)-c.

Soon after Northborough had become a separate precinct, viz., in
the winter of 1745, measures wci-e taken for building a meeting-house,

with a view to the permanent establishment of public worship. The
first meeting-house was built the same year; and on the 21st of May,
1776, O. S., answering to June 1st, Rev. John Martyn was ordained
as the minister. Mr. Martyn was an able and faithful pastor ; and
during his ministry of nearly tw^enty-one years, was highly esteemed
by his people, and by his brethren in the ministry. He died, after a
short sickness, April 30, 1767, in the sixty-first year of his age. He
was a native of Boston, and a graduate of Harvard College of the
year 1724.

Rabbi Judah Monis, a converted Jew, for forty years Hebrew
Instructor in Harvard College, and who had married a sister of Mrs.
Martyn, of the name of Merrit, after the death of his wife in 1761,
came to live with his brother-in-law, Mr. Martyn, where he remained
till his death, April 25, 1764, at the age of eighty-one.

By his will, among other bequests, he left a legacy of one hundred
and twenty-six pounds, as a fund, the interest of which Avas to be de-
voted to the relief of indigent widows of deceased clergymen, appoint-
ing trustees for apportioning it; who, with their successors, have ful-
filled the trust. The fund now amounts to four hundred dollars. He
also gave a silver cup and a large silver tankard, since converted into
two cups, inscribed with his name, for the communion table.

The grave of Rabbi Judah Monis is near that of his brother-in-law,
Rev. Mr. Martyn, in the old burying-ground, and both are marked
by monuments, with appropriate inscriptions.

On the fourth of the following November, (1767,) six months only
after the death of Mr. Martyn, Rev. Peter Whitney, sou of Rev. Aaron
Whitney, of Petersham, was ordained as his successor. Mr. Whitney
was graduated at Harvard College in 1762, and was married to Julia
Lambert, of Reading, by whom he had ten children, who lived to the
age of maturity. Mr. Whitney's ministry was long, peaceful and
prosperous, and terminated in his sudden death, February 29, 1816,
in the seventy-second year of his life and the forty-ninth of his ministry.

The present senior pastor of the church, Rev. Joseph Allen, was
ordained October 30th, 1816, at whose request, after a ministry of
forty years, a colleague was given him, he still retaining his office.
Rev. Trowbridge B. Forbush, a graduate of Meadville Theological
School, the junior pastor, was ordained January 1, 1857.

The meeting-house of the First Congregational Society Avas erected
in 1808, and remodeled in 1848.

Two other ecclesiastical societies have been formed in this town
within the last thirty-five years, viz., the Baptist Society, organized
February 3, 1827; and the Evangelical Congregational Society, April
3, 1832. Both are flourishing societies, and arc furnished with hand-

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some church edifices, erected, the former in 1860, and dedicated No-
vember 28 ; that belonging to the Evangelical Congregational Society
in 1847, and dedicated February 23, 1848.

The first pastor of the Baptist church was Rev. Alonzo King. His
successors were Edward Seagrave, William H. Dalrymple, Bartlett
Pease, Artemas M. Piper, Tubal Wakefield, and Charles Farrar. The
present incumbent. Rev. Silas Ripley, entered on his pastorate in
May, 1855.

The pastors of the Evangelical Congregational Church were : — 1.
Samuel Austin Fay, ordained October 17, 1832 ; dismissed October
19, 1836. 2. Daniel H. Emerson, ordained October 19, 1836; dis-
missed April 23, 1840. 3. AVilliam A. Houghton, ordained July 5,
1843; dismissed June 11, 1851. 4. Samuel S. Ashley, installed
June 16, 1852.

From March 1841 to December 1842, the pulpit was statedly sup-
plied by Rev. Dr. Bates, formerly President of Middlebury College,
Vermont.

Schools, Lyceums, Libraries, S^c.

Four years after the act of incorporation, that is, in 1770, the town
was divided into four squadrons, as they were called ; and ten years
afterwards, or in 1780, a grant was made of £4,000, in a very depre-
ciated currency, amounting to only $175, which was increased by sub-
sequent grant to about $545, for building four school-houses ; about
$136 for each.

The number of school-districts at present is six, in which schools
are kept, on an average, six months in the year ; the Centre School
having two departments, each furnished with a separate teacher. For
the support of these schools the town makes an annual appropriation
of from $1,200 to $1,300. The wages of male teachers are from $40
to $50 a month, including board, while the wages of female teachers
are from $20 to $25.

All the school-houses but one are of brick ; the one in the centre is
of two stories, and furnished Avith a bell ; and all are of modern con-
struction, and in tolerably good repair. The cost of the five brick
school-houses was about $7,000.

The first school committee Avas chosen April, 1826, agreeably to
an enactment of the Legislature, passed March 4th, the same year ;
before Avhich time the minister and the selectmen were the visitors
and superintendents of the schools. The preceding year, 1825, this
toAVTi chose a Committee of seven members, " on uniformity of school
books," which committee, in May of the same year, made their report,
recommending a list of class books to be used in all the schools in town,

to the exclusion of all others, which report was accepted, and a great
and growing evil was thereby corrected. From this period, (182G,)
more than ten years before the Board of Education was established,
the school committee made a report to the town, each year, of their
doings, and of the state of the schools, copies of which are contained
in the toA\'n records.

In 1830, the town voted to introduce Holbrook's School Apparatus,
which accordingly was done ; the articles were manufactured by Capt.
Thomas W. Lyon, an ingenious machinist of this town. Two years
earher, 182^, the toAvu adopted a system of regulations, which was
published for the use of the teachers, and which, with some modifica-
tions, is still in force.

Fewto^\^ls in this Commonwealth, it is believed, in proportion to their
size, have furnished a larger number of teachers during the last half
century than this. A friend has furnished us with a list, containing
the names of fifty-seven teachers, male and female, whose education
was obtained principally in our public schools, Avho found employment
as teachers in this and other places, during the first thii-ty years of the
present centmy. During the last thirty years, the number must have
been much larger, as more than thirty have graduated at our Normal
Schools, most of tliem at the one in Bridgewater. Many of them have
tbund employment in various parts of the country. Some of the teach-
ei'S Avho have gone from this town, have continued in the employment
for thirty or forty years, and some are still in active service. Several
attempts have been made to establish a permanent High School in this
place, but hitherto without success. That institution, so much needed,
and so earnestly desired by many, is yet in the future, but cannot, we
think, long be delayed.

Although this is a reading community, there is no large public
library in tovm, the people depending on parish, or private libraries, or
l)ook clubs. A juvenile library, afterwards conveii:ed into a Sunday
school library, was formed in 1824, replenished by an annual contri-
bution, and Avliich for many years furnished reading for all the childi-en
in to-wn, who chose to apply for them. Sunday school libraries are now
connected with the several parishes, or religious societies.

Libraries for young women and for young men have been instituted,
and have flourished for many years ; but, as the proprietors became
scattered, the libraries went to decay, and have ceased to exist. A
free public library, supported by the town, in accordance Avith a statute
of the Commonwealth, passed May, 1851, Avould be a gi-eat public
benefit, and is " a consummation devoutly to be Avished." The ben-
efits of such an institution Avill be realized in " the good time coming."
A " Social Library" was instituted as early as 1792, and was main-
39

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talned till its incorpoi-ation with the Free Library of the First Parish,
iu 1828.

A Lyceum was established in 1828, which, after continuing in active
operation for about thu'ty years, gave place to the " Young Men's
Lyceum," which flourished for a few years, and Avas then suffered to
die out. A Course of Lectures has been given in the Town Hall each
season since the winter of 1826-7, till 1860-1, a period of thirty-four
years. For many years the lecture was followed by a discussion,
or debate, on some subject previously assigned.

The population of the toAvn, fifty years ago, was less than 800. It
has more than doubled since, though the increase during the last ten
years has been quite inconsiderable. In 1850, it was 1,535 ; in 1860,
1,563. The increase in wealth, during the same period of ten years,
has been much gi-eater in proportion to the number of inhabitants. In
1850, the valuation was $625,596 : in 1860, it amounted to $947,539,
being an increase of nearly $322,000.

The Agricultural Branch RaUi'oad, which has its present terminus
iu Northborough, was finished in 1855. The Northborough Bank was
incorporated in 1854, Avith a capital of $100,000 : of this institution,
George C. Davis, Esq., is President, and Abraham W. Seaver,
Cashier.

In 1831, the town, by a unanimous vote passed March 7th, ac-
cepted a munificent donation of $3,000 from Henry Gassett, Esq., a
merchant of Boston, but a native of this toAATi. This is an accumu-
lating fund, one-sixth of the interest of which, after reaching the sum
of $4,000, is to be annually added to the principal, and the other five-
sixths to be applied to the support of the minister, for tlie time being,
of the First Congregational Society, so long as such Society should
exist, and " maintain a good and convenient house for public worship
on or near the spot Avhere the present meeting-house stands." Mr.
Gassett died in Boston, August 15, 1855, at the age of eighty-three.

The Town Hall was built in 1822, and a basement story added for
a Vestry in 1833. The towoi clock was a present from the late Jonas
Ball, a short time before his death, in 1847.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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